Page 46 - Super Earth Encyclopedia

THE ROOF WORLD’S HIGHEST

OF THE WORLD MOUNTAIN

MOUNT EVEREST

Sixty million years ago, India was an island continent
that was being dragged north by the mobile plates of
Earth’s crust. About 10 million years later, it slammed
into Asia, and this collision pushed up an immense
mountain range, the Himalayas, and the neighboring
Tibetan Plateau. The whole region has been called the
“Roof of the World.” The mountains here are the highest
on Earth, and the highest of them all is Mount Everest.
Its peak is so far above sea level that the air contains very
little oxygen, and those mountaineers who try to climb
it are forced to carry their own oxygen supplies.

AT A GLANCE
• LOCATION Border of Nepal and

Tibet Autonomous Region, China
• MOUNTAIN RANGE Himalayas
• SUMMIT HEIGHT 29,029 ft

(8,848 m) above sea level
• AGE Less than 50 million years

STATS AND FACTS
FORMIDABLE FORMATIONS
THE HIGHEST ICY BLAST
The subcontinent of Everest is one of Wind speeds of
India is still moving 14 peaks on Earth up to 175 mph
north and pushing that are more (280 km/h) have
up the Himalayas. than 26,247 ft been recorded
As a result, they are (8,000 m) high. on the summit.
still rising at the rate
of about 0.2 in TEMPERATURE Temperature at the summit
(5 mm) a year. can fall to -80°F (-62°C).
°C -62 -31 0
°F -80 -22 32

FIRST SUCCESSFUL CLIMB
1953

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